National Cataloguing Grants Scheme:

Five year review (2006 – 2011) From its foundation, in 1930, the Pilgrim Trust has supported the preservation of important archival material and its cataloguing. Such was the spending power of the first Trustees that, in 1932, they were able to purchase the North Papers, a record of English life from the time of Henry VIII to that of Victoria. These were then presented to the Bodleian Library together with a grant to enable the papers to be catalogued. Thus the Trust has always appreciated and understood that an archive is of no use unless it is properly catalogued.

Unfortunately, the Pilgrim Trust’s ability fully to fund the projects before it has diminished over time and in 2006 it decided that to achieve its aim of making important archival material accessible, it would have to take a more strategic approach and to join with other funders with similar aims. The National Cataloguing Scheme was born and, to date, more than £1,450,000 has been awarded to unlock the potential of 55 important archives.

The Pilgrim Trust is enormously grateful to its fellow funders and hopes that others might be persuaded to join. Trusts and Foundations are increasingly realising that they can have a bigger impact on a problem if they work together and this is even more important in times of economic difficulties. We will continue to seek new partners, both in the UK and abroad. The richness of the UK’s archival heritage is relevant way beyond these shores.

The Pilgrim Trustees are grateful to The National Archives for their expertise in running the Scheme on the Funders’ behalf. They are also indebted to the members of the Expert Panel who have given freely of their time to take the Scheme forward and to make it so successful. We look forward to the next five years and to unlocking yet more treasures from our outstanding archives.

Lady Jay of Ewelme CBE Chairman of the Pilgrim Trust Britain is almost uniquely fortunate in the survival of a rich and ancient archive inheritance, but this wealth of documentary heritage is all too often obscured by a backlog of uncatalogued collections that are mostly invisible to researchers. If you’ve ever tried to use a poorly catalogued archive you’ll know it is frustrating and can even be misleading when key descriptive information is missing. Good cataloguing is where access to archives begins; without it, a researcher’s journey to unlock history will be off on the wrong track.

Together the Pilgrim Trust and The National Archives created a new strategic funding stream that archives can apply to in order to catalogue the backlog. We know that without the National Cataloguing Grants Scheme’s vital funds during the last five years, many UK collections would have been left uncatalogued and undiscovered by researchers.

The programme began in 2006 with a two year pilot supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Demand was and continues to be very high, and the competition is intense. The experience of the pilot demonstrated the Scheme’s potential, and from 2008 with the support of a greatly increased group of funders, a national programme was launched.

If you want to find out more about supporting the scheme please contact Georgina Nayler georgina@thepilgrimtrust.org.uk

The positive outcomes of these projects for grant recipients and archive users go far beyond the cataloguing itself. This five year review of the National Cataloguing Grants Scheme celebrates just a few of the ways in which these relatively small grants have made an impact on the archive experiences of thousands... and gives six reasons why archive cataloguing brings wider benefits.

Did you know...

In 2002, it was estimated that the UK had a backlog of uncatalogued archives that would take an archivist many hundreds of years to clear? Cataloguing is the essence of archive discovery. Without it, an archive is often an uninviting mass of material, with no way in for researchers. Stacks of boxes, with contents unknown, offer no encouragement for researchers to open them and explore their riches. Collection managers who don’t know what’s in their collections can’t even begin to make the most of them. Even if an intrepid reader does try to get to grips with an uncatalogued archive, it is an intensely frustrating business without an overview of the collection, or a clear idea of how it is arranged and where its richest areas may be.

Cataloguing grants offered by this programme have opened dozens of collections for research and discovery. Along the way, many exciting and unusual items have been revealed. An East Riding gentry family, the Calverley-Rudstons (East Riding of Yorkshire Archives 2009), have in their archive the key sources for the construction of the seventeenth-century Mole of Tangiers. Perhaps more predictably, but no less exciting: the estate papers of the Coventry family (Worcestershire Record Office 2008) contain gems relating to the construction of Croome Court: a design project worked on by Robert Adam, James Wyatt and ‘Capability’ Brown. The archive provides fascinating evidence for the work of some of the greatest architects and garden designers of the eighteenth century. Case Study:

**Exeter University Special Collections** (2007)

Exeter University used a grant to support their strategy for overcoming a legacy of largely uncatalogued special collections, in a project focusing on their South West literary holdings. Among the project’s many benefits were new deposits of related material and fresh partnerships with academic departments to stimulate further research into regional literary collections. It allowed a fuller understanding of the interconnections between literary figures, linked by their locality. The project also discovered an unknown group of letters from Siegfried Sassoon to Charles Causley, in which the famous war poet called himself, “A cellist-poet, bowing away at [his] adagios.” Without cataloguing, the poet’s memorable words on his own work might never have come to light.

http://as.exeter.ac.uk/library/about/special/archives/archivesandmanuscripts

Case Study:

**National Portrait Gallery** (2009)

The cataloguing of the archive of Sir George Scharf, first director of the National Portrait Gallery, reveals the story of how the Gallery developed in its early years. It made available Scharf’s sketchbooks of prominent people and the paintings held in many country houses, alongside his private diaries that contrast life in a booming Victorian London with the country retreats and art collections of great Victorian families. Quite unexpectedly, however, the treasure of the collection was neither art nor high society, but the relics of a medieval king. Cataloguing enabled the project archivist to connect diary entries with sketches, and to identify the contents of a cigarette box as mementoes from the opening of Richard II’s tomb. Scharf made detailed, measured drawings of the king’s skull, which may allow a forensic reconstruction of his appearance. This happy discovery gave the project a great media boost.

http://www.npg.org.uk/research/archive/archive-journeys/sir-george-scharf.php Reason two:

Cataloguing grants....

...open up new opportunities

Cataloguing projects create new opportunities for archive services and the professionals working in them to make positive changes and form new partnerships that go way beyond the project.

Some of our projects have opened up new opportunities to second professionally-qualified members of staff into new, more senior posts, and to backfill posts to offer first job opportunities to newly-qualified archivists. In a small sector where permanent posts can be hard to find, such opportunities for job mobility are valuable in developing individuals’ skills and experience and enriching both the service and the sector.

An externally-funded project increases the profile of collections, as in the case of Dorset History Centre’s Poole Pottery project (2007). Publicity around the project inspired the deposit of further previously unknown sections of the firm’s archive and related collections.

Grants to catalogue thematic collections can also offer new areas for study, as is the intention of the University of Nottingham project (2010) to develop its water and drainage archives as a focus for research into environmental change. The project created a Water Archives Forum for stakeholder organisations and academic advisors. The Forum makes connections across sectors to harness expertise for the benefit of cataloguing and for future partnerships. Case Study: Archives and Records Council Wales, ‘Powering the World’ (2008)

This major collaborative cataloguing project to look at Welsh industry through archives is co-ordinated by Archives and Records Council Wales (ARCW), running from 2009 to 2011. In 2006, a report showed that archives across Wales held uncatalogued records of key Welsh companies which had through their exports and innovations played a role in the industrial development of Wales and the world beyond. Ten of the top-scoring collections in Catalog Cymru were chosen for the collaborative grant application to the Cataloguing Grants Scheme and CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales.

The project involves eight partner repositories. Two of the partners (Richard Burton Archives, Swansea University and the National Library of Wales) have acted as hosts for the project staff. This approach addresses the capacity constraints of individual services - a common problem associated with short term projects.

When the project ends, ARCW plans to use the opportunities provided by the Archives Wales website, together with the new online resource of the People’s Collection Wales, to publicise the newly-catalogued collections in the context of Wales’ contribution to the modern industrial world. It is hoped that this further promotional work will increase the use and awareness of Welsh business archives and may lead to future deposits of archive material in ARCW’s member repositories.

http://walespoweringtheworld.blogspot.com

Case Study: Sheffield Archives (2008)

The benefits that grants projects have brought to local communities have extended far beyond just enhancing collections management. An example is the Sheffield’s Heartbeat project, which gave an opportunity to Lena Abdo-Samed, a young apprentice on Sheffield City Council’s scheme to work in the archives in support of the cataloguing project. Lena’s work led to her getting a level 2 NVQ in Business and Administration. Lena said, ‘Before working at Sheffield Archives I didn’t know what an archive was. I’ve learnt about the work they do to make documents and historical records available.’

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/libraries/archives-and-local-studies Projects describing collections are the start of a process which allows a huge variety of audiences to connect with original material. Many cataloguing projects have attracted expert and local volunteers in support, offering their knowledge to expand archive descriptions and make the archive as open and accessible as possible. The project based at Reading University (2009) worked with existing student volunteering services to offer students of English a chance to engage directly with famous publishers’ archives. The students contributed to the vital indexing work on the Longman and Macmillan collections.

Many archives have a special resonance for the area in which they are kept. A locally important family and business, such as Bealey’s of Radcliffe (Bury Archives Service 2009) became a core part of the local community, with their name on every public building, their former employees scattered across the local area, and even their former home now a public park. Cataloguing their archive has already provided the springboard for exhibitions, blogs, reminiscence work and remembrance displays that connect local people with the history and development of their area.

Cataloguing is at the heart of better public access to archives and attracts and creates new opportunities for volunteers and users.

Cataloguing grants.... ...bring people and collections together Case Study:

Warwickshire County Record Office (2009)

With a strong record of working with volunteers to open up its archive collections, it was an obvious choice for Warwickshire County Record Office to create a project for volunteers to support the transcribing of the fascinating correspondence of the Willes family. The Willes were important landlords in Leamington Spa, with Edward Willes being instrumental in the expansion of the town’s architecture and development during the 1820-30s.

A partnership between the record office and the Leamington History group ensured volunteers committed to the collection were recruited. The volunteers had the flexibility of transcribing from copies at home, and the responsibility of checking each other’s work. Up to 1000 volunteer hours meant that hundreds of letters were transcribed and are now available to the public. In celebration and recognition of the team’s work, events and presentation evenings were held to share their success with the local community. Adult learning resource packs have been created to further extend awareness of the collection and keep it alive.

http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/archivesunlocked

Case Study:

University of Bradford Special Collections (2008)

The PaxCat project described and made available many archives of the British peace movement. With the funding they received, the Special Collections staff were able to raise the collection’s profile and explore the potential for using online as an affordable but innovative marketing and communications tool. A reflective blog by the project archivist, contributions to the Special Collections twitter feed and a flickr showcase have all helped to increase audiences for the collection. On site events included a drop-in session and the catalogue launch helped the service to reach new readers, raise funds and add appropriate new material to their holdings.

http://commonwealarchives.wordpress.com Reason four:

Cataloguing grants.... ...drive scholarship and research

Cataloguing enables researchers to understand the full context of records and to identify items which support their area of study.

Inaccessible, uncatalogued collections are too often invisible to researchers, offering them only a limited view of the surviving sources, and sometimes presenting only a partial view of the past. Researchers need access to collections that have good descriptions and arrangements in order to make new advances in scholarship.

Many of the cataloguing projects we fund have directly inspired academic research. Published scholarly editions of catalogued records include those of William Temple (Lambeth Palace Library 2006) and of Manchester Cathedral (Manchester Cathedral Archives 2006). Cataloguing the correspondence of Masonic Lodges in the Americas (Library and Museum of Freemasonry 2006) was the springboard for a new history of ‘Prince Hall’ masonry, as well as an exhibition and continuing research about individuals such as Lovelace Overton, a Caribbean man who served in the King’s Dragoon Guards. The vast archive of the stained-glass restorers G King & Son (Norfolk Record Office 2008) supports international stained glass research efforts such as the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi. The archive offers exceptional new insights into the stained glass of the parish churches of East Anglia and the cathedrals of York, Canterbury and Wells among many other medieval buildings. These are important scholarly developments of lasting benefit in our understanding of these subjects. The cataloguing of the Mary Hamilton papers opened a key source for understanding the bluestocking circle, and many leading court figures of the late eighteenth century. Hamilton was a great correspondent and an important diarist. Her diaries and letters are a mine of gossip and information: from balloon ascensions to some examples of Samuel Johnson’s unflattering opinions of Oliver Goldsmith (who, among much else “knew very little of any subject he ever wrote upon…”). The potential of the collection was celebrated in a conference on women’s life writing in January 2011, which placed Hamilton in the context of literary practice of the period and among contemporaries such as Fanny Burney, Hester Thrale Piozzi and Hannah More.

http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/maryhamilton

In 2008 two separate projects together demonstrated the importance of the glass industry to the West Midlands. The collections involved were quite different in focus but the combination of projects inspired a study day at the University of Birmingham to highlight this powerful regional industry. The Chance Brothers archive is a record of major industrial process, producing glass for lighthouses and laboratories among much else, while John Hardman & Co, the company which brought many of Augustus Pugin’s designs to fruition, dealt with some of the outstanding artistic design of the Victorian period. Hardman’s archive proved popular with visitors to an exhibition at Birmingham Central Library. As one visitor commented, “it’s good to know that so much of the firm’s records remain.” Powerful evidence of the changes wrought by the decay of local industry can be seen in many of the business records catalogued under this programme. The decline of the aluminium trade at Dolgarrog (Conwy Archive Service 2009), the Cornish china clay industry (Cornwall Record Office 2007) and steel production at Whitehaven (Cumbria Record Office 2006) all profoundly influenced their local areas. Cataloguing these archives has enabled communities to engage with their past and connect with those whose memories of change are a vital part of local identity.

The cataloguing of the news collections of the Media Archive of Central England (2007) has given the local community easier access to its moving image heritage, while the cataloguing of the Stoddard-Templeton archive (University of Glasgow Archives Service 2009) reminds Glaswegians that luxury carpets from their city graced the 1867 Exposition Universelle, the Mausoleum of Shah Abbas II at Kum, and even the Titanic.

Reason five:

Cataloguing grants....

...enrich communities

Communities across the United Kingdom are enriched by engagement with their history. Archives document the experiences of communities in change, for better and for worse. Case Study:

**Tyne and Wear Archives** (2007)

Shipbuilding on the Tyne was one of the most famous of regional industries. The Jarrow Marchers of the 1930s left a strong imprint of their defiant image on social history. The impact of the industry, its rise and decline, affected the whole Tyneside community, and remains a raw memory for many. Cataloguing the records of Swan Hunter and related companies allowed Tyne and Wear Archives to work with former shipyard employees on a Revisiting Archive Collections project. Local people benefited from direct contact with company documents and photographs, which helped archivists to appreciate the meaning and the significance these records hold for the community.

http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/archives

Case Study:

**North Yorkshire County Record Office** (2009)

‘All Human Life’ is the name of the North Riding Quarter Sessions cataloguing project. The ambitious name gives a taste of the richness of the North Riding Quarter Sessions which dealt with not only crime but issues which affected the whole community, from bridges to riots, cattle plague, the militia and local recusants. To bring history to life the Record Office is working through its Archives Ambassadors groups to reach more people across the county.

Kathleen Bowe, one of the volunteers giving her time to the project said, “These manuscripts are of great interest to those researching local and family history because they reveal the lives of ordinary people: their assaults on their neighbours, the petty theft, the poaching. Opening the documents is like reading the storyline of a modern ‘soap’ and over the years the rogues of the community emerge.”

http://archives.northyorks.gov.uk/dserve Reason six:

Cataloguing grants.... ...release the potential of archives

Archive cataloguing opens collections to new uses through greater understanding and visibility of the records. By their nature, archives contain the unexpected, the authentic flavour of lives lived and decisions taken. The name we choose to give to a collection reveals much, but also conceals much of what it may offer to researchers.

The grants given in the 2010 round of the programme will catalogue a huge range of collections and illuminate many subjects. We already know that they will cast light on the financial and legal struggles of a Bath family caught on both sides of the Peninsular War; that they will illustrate the development of British advertising; that they will reopen the debate about the early development of railway engineering and the unique genius of Robert Stephenson; and that they will tell the story of children’s efforts to help their disabled peers through co-operative action. The letters of Robert Owen and the 14th Earl of Derby can hardly fail to illuminate the social reform and politics of the nineteenth century. Exploring the colourful history of Sadler’s Wells will be an exciting way in to archives for many, and the archive of the National Union of Women Teachers will tell stories of feminism and female empowerment. Local history in Bedfordshire, Wiltshire, the Black Country, Rutland and the Trent Valley will be enriched.

This much we know. But we do not know what else will be discovered as a result of these grants, as these archives are explored and their full potential is released. George Howell illustrates an important point about archives: it is not only the famous names who create fascinating collections. A man like Howell, who was an able administrator involved in many progressive causes in the nineteenth century, amassed an archive which documents the gamut of late Victorian radicalism.

Perhaps of the most extraordinary interest are his notes and cuttings relating to the First International and the early Trades Union Congress, but these are only the best known of the organisations he supported and whose records he accumulated. Howell’s fame, such as it was, has not lasted well. But by cataloguing his archive, the records of many of the fascinating causes he espoused are once again revealed for researchers.

http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/content/1076/George-Howell-Archive-Cataloguing-Project

Case Study: Bishopsgate Institute (2006)

JW Haines is little known today, but was a key figure on the cultural scene of the early 20th century. Although he was a writer himself, his significance lies in his nickname, the “friend of many poets”. He supported the careers of writers from Robert Frost to Edward Thomas, and his archive reflects this wide literary engagement.

Cataloguing the Haines correspondence dovetailed with two other important literary cataloguing projects at Gloucestershire Archives: the papers of John Moore and Ivor Gurney, both of whom were also Haines’ contacts. This sustained campaign has allowed connections to be made across the three archives, including identifying unattributed manuscripts in the Haines archive. The outcome is a much richer, more connected, understanding of a thriving literary network.

http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=15434

Case Study: Gloucestershire Archives (2007) The National Cataloguing Grants Scheme for Archives has been an outstanding success in its first five years. Funded projects have been of high quality, very sustainable and virtually all delivered on schedule and within budget. The capacity of the archive sector to deliver successful projects opening up collections has been fully demonstrated, with benefits going far beyond the production of individual collection catalogues. The possibilities inherent in a group of funders working together, and harnessing the sector intelligence and expertise of The National Archives have delivered, as promised, a funding stream to address a clear strategic need within the archives sector. Despite the challenging fundraising environment, a strong collaboration of key funders has endured and increased over the lifetime of the programme so far.

The need for funding for archive cataloguing remains acute. Annual rounds of the fund have consistently been oversubscribed by six to eight times, and each year many strong, well-planned projects do not receive funding. The quality of applications has improved over the course of the past five years, as archives have adopted a more strategic, prioritised approach to cataloguing backlogs and learned from the benefits demonstrated by earlier cataloguing projects. The success of the first five years makes an undeniable case for continuing this vital strategic funding stream.

It remains the case however that external funding cannot currently address the full scope of the national cataloguing backlog. Many uncatalogued collections, particularly of core records of parent organisations, are unlikely to attract project funding. Certain archive services, with particular legacy problems, have historic backlogs far larger than a two year project can tackle. There is a real need for further, alternative approaches to funding cataloguing. Parent organisations must recognise that cataloguing is a necessary first step on the road to access and fulfilling the potential of collections, and prioritise it accordingly. There is also space for larger grants to catalogue the biggest collections, or to reduce backlogs by many ‘archivist years’ through the application of bigger grants than has so far been possible through the National Cataloguing Grants Scheme.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/our-services/cataloguing-grants-programme.htm

The future of archive cataloguing

The Pilgrim Trust would be delighted to hear from potential new funding partners to support the scheme.

If you would like to discuss becoming a scheme funder, please contact:

Georgina Nayler, Director The Pilgrim Trust Email: georgina@thepilgrimtrust.org.uk Tel: 020 7222 4723

For enquiries about applications to the scheme, please contact:

Melinda Haunton, Programmes Manager The National Archives Email: asd@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk Tel: 020 8392 5330 Appendix One

The following bodies have been supporters of the scheme and have enabled the projects outlined in this review to reach their full potential. Our thanks to them for all their contributions which have made this cataloguing possible.

The Pilgrim Trust The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation The Foyle Foundation The Wolfson Foundation The Mercers’ Company The Goldsmiths’ Company The Monument Trust The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation The Charlotte Bonham Carter Foundation The J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust The National Archives Appendix Two projects funded 2006-2010

National Grants Programmes

2010

- Bath Record Office (£4,475.50): “The Langton Inheritance”
- Bedfordshire and Luton Archive Service (£38,702): “Paths to Crime,” Bedfordshire Quarter Sessions Rolls 1832-1900
- Church of England Children’s Society (£40,506): “Including the Excluded,” Disability, Children and The Children’s Society 1889 to 1979
- Co-operative Heritage Trust (£31,122): “Father of Co-operation,” the Robert Owen papers
- Dorset History Centre (£19,125): “Town on the Hill,” the Shaftesbury borough archive
- History of Advertising Trust (£28,364): “Communicating the Creative Industries”: JWT archives
- Islington Local History Centre (£32,723.85): Sadler’s Wells Theatre Collection
- London University: Institute of Education (£34,986): National Union of Women Teachers archive
- Liverpool Record Office (£43,708.87): Personal and political papers of the Stanley family, Earls of Derby
- National Railway Museum (£12,800): “The North East’s Other Railway Family,” Hackworth family papers
- University of Nottingham (£25,384): Rivers, drainage and water supply: the lower Trent water authorities
- Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland (£33,990): “Rutland Phoenix,” the Noel family archive
- Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (£38,800): “We mak’em,” the Sunderland shipbuilding archives
- Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (£22,702): “From Salisbury to Tobago,” the Pleydell-Bouverie family archive
- Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies Service (£36,468): the Smith, Son & Wilkie, accountants, archive

2009

- Bury Archives Service (£15,782): “Close Relations,” the Bealey’s of Radcliffe archive

- Conwy Archive Service (£14,526): Dolgarrog Aluminium Works archive

- East Riding of Yorkshire Archives (£23,739): “Crowns, Colonies and Countrymen,” the Calverley-Rudston family archive

- Gloucestershire Archives (£37,074.74): “From the Cotswolds to Westminster,” the Hicks Beach family, Earls of St Aldwyn

- Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (£29,673): “Unlocking the past,” Hawkins & Co solicitors of Hitchin

- John Rylands Library, University of Manchester (£22,728): “The Female Pepys,” the Mary Hamilton papers

- National Portrait Gallery Archive (£17,909): the Sir George Scharf papers

- North Yorkshire County Record Office (£41,527): “All Human Life,” the North Riding Quarter Sessions

- Reading University Special Collections (£38,165): Macmillan and Longman publishers cataloguing project

- University of Glasgow Archives Service (£39,990): “Glasgow Green to Bendigo,” the Stoddard-Templeton archive

- Warwickshire County Record Office (£32,701): Willes family archive 2008 (including a ringfenced sum for Eastern England, South East England, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and Wales)

- Archives and Records Council Wales consortium bid (£40,000): ‘Powering the World’ - Welsh Industry through Archives

- Birmingham Archives and Heritage (£24,140): ‘A Window onto the World’ - the archive of John Hardman & Co

- University of Bradford Special Collections (£35,400): ‘PaxCat’ - archives of the British peace movement

- Norfolk Record Office (£31,000): G King & Son, lead glaziers and stained glass conservators

- Nottinghamshire Archives (£38,256): Southwell Minster archives

- Sandwell Community History and Archive Centre (£27,709): ‘The Infinite Uses of Glass’ - Chance Bros Ltd archive

- Sheffield Archives (£35,000): ‘Sheffield’s Heartbeat: Steel’ - the archives of Firth Brown

- Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service (£33,940): Staffordshire Quarter Sessions bundles

- West Yorkshire Archive Service (£37,487): ‘The Harewood family and estate archive

- Worcestershire Record Office (£27,732): ‘Croome and Capability’ - archives of the Earls of Coventry

- Gloucestershire Archives (£12,880): John Wilton Haines, ‘the friend of many poets’

- Media Archive of Central England (£26,000): ‘The Changing Midlands,’ 30 years of regional news

- Somerset Record Office (£22,500): ‘Society and Justice in Somerset,’ cataloguing Quarter Sessions 1660-1800

- Tyne and Wear Archives Service (£38,404): the ‘COAST’ project (Cataloguing of archives of shipbuilding on the Tyne)

- Waterways Trust (£21,000): Visual Waterways- a photographic history of Britain’s canals

2006 (Scotland, London, North West England)

- Ayrshire Archives (£15,000): Ayrshire burghs archives
- Bishopsgate Library, London (£25,000): George Howell archive
- Cumbria Record Office, Whitehaven (£18,880): British Steel archive
- Dundee University Archives (£12,600): hospital, asylum and medical school records
- East Dunbartonshire Archives (£22,379): Lion Foundry Co. Ltd.
- Glasgow Caledonian University (£20,000): Scottish TUC archive
- Lambeth Palace Library (£8,383): papers of Archbishop William Temple
- Lancashire Record Office, Preston (£21,000): Kenyon family papers
- Library & Museum of Freemasonry, London (£13,000): correspondence with masonic lodges in the Americas
- Manchester Cathedral Archives (£11,698): 19th century estate records
- St Bartholomew’s Hospital Archives (£26,000): City and Hackney hospital group records

Pilot Scheme: Esmee Fairbairn and Pilgrim Trust-funded 2007 (South West England, North East England, East Midlands)

- Cornwall Record Office (£24,500): Fortescue family of Boconnoc papers
- Dorset History Centre (£24,800): Poole Pottery archive
- Exeter University (£21,403): ‘Writing Lives,’ archives of literary craft and kinship